How many times have you read, heard, or used the words "burger" and "hamburger" interchangeably? It's a common misconception, stemming from the belief that the two terms refer to the same food, but in reality, this isn't the case: there is a difference, and it's not just linguistic. Hamburger specifically refers to the classic beef medallion that you can buy ready-made or prepare at home, while burger is a more generic term that includes all types of medallions, both meat-based ones (including varieties other than beef) and plant-based ones, such as those made with tofu, seitan, beans, or quinoa. Let's look in detail at the differences between the two terms and their preparations.
What is a Hamburger?
When we talk about a hamburger, we specifically refer to a medallion of ground and pressed beef, served alone with a side dish or as a filling for a sandwich enriched with other ingredients. The concept of the hamburger is a German invention (although the first traces of an ancestor preparation date back to the Middle Ages and the Tartars), a very common recipe in the city and port of Hamburg towards the beginning of the 19th century. In 1891, a German chef named Otto Kuasw conceived a new technique for cooking sausage: removing it from the casing, flattening it, cooking it in butter, and placing the meat between two slices of bread, also adding a fried egg. The recipe was then brought to New York by the numerous German immigrants to the United States starting in the late 19th century, most of whom departed from the port of Hamburg, Germany's largest commercial port. The German immigrants set up stalls in New York selling "Hamburg-style steak" to sailors newly arrived from Europe, and from that moment on, this specialty began to spread overseas.
In 1902, a description of the Hamburg steak was found, similar to the modern concept of the hamburger, and from that moment on, the beef medallion became a true icon of American cuisine. And for Americans, the hamburger is a rather serious thing, so much so that some states, including Arkansas, have been fighting for several years (and, in some cases, have enacted local laws) to ban the use of the term "hambruger" for any product other than beef, especially the increasingly popular vegan burgers.
What Are Burgers, Instead?
The term burger is more generic and is used to refer to any type of patty eaten alone or in a bun, regardless of its composition: it can be made of meat, fish, vegetables, legumes, and, nowadays, even lab-made to resemble an animal-based patty in every way. The linguistic confusion stems primarily from the fact that over time, in the US and elsewhere, "burger" has become an abbreviation for "hamburger" and a creative suffix for countless variations: cheeseburger, fishburger, veggie burger, chicken burger, and so on, encompassing any type of patty within the term, which is why everyone has started using the terms burger and hamburger interchangeably.
In recent years, the burger has experienced a veritable cultural renaissance and, thanks to the variety of products it encompasses, has gone from being a fast food staple to a premium restaurant staple, so much so that it has appeared on the menus of Michelin-starred bistros and urban gourmet restaurants. This has also led to a wide-ranging linguistic debate that has spilled over into legal disputes: some countries (France recently , but not alone) have decided to ban the terms "burger" and "hambruger" from all companies producing plant-based or artificial products, because they consider them to be terms specific to a sector traditionally associated with meat and fish. The debate is still widely open, but in everyday language, the use of "burger" is generally accepted to refer to medallions prepared with exclusively plant-based ingredients.
What Are the Differences Between Hamburgers and Burgers?
To summarize, the main difference between the two is that "burger" is a generic term used to indicate all medallions of any type of meat, fish, or vegan, while "hamburger" is a specific category of burger that contains exclusively ground beef. Both can be used as ingredients in buns, to be filled with a variety of products and sauces depending on the type of burger you use. And if you still have doubts every now and then, remember this little tongue twister: all hamburgers are burgers, but not all burgers are hamburgers.
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